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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Sunday Feature 24

I searched BN.com for books about grammar and found ten that had amusing titles. Then I made up six additional titles. Your job is to figure out which of the following titles are not grammar books available at BN.com.

Woe is ISpunk and BiteAnguished EnglishComma ChameleonLinguistics for LosersThe Great Typo HuntThe Elephants of StyleOrigins of the SpeciousHow to Write Good, PeriodNot Your Gramma's GrammarThe Years of Talking DangerouslyWhen You Catch an Adjective, Kill ItGrammar Snobs Are Great Big MeaniesThe Grammar Geek Settles the ArgumentsReading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 PagesPunctuation is for Pussies: How the Internet Made Grammar Irrelevant

Answers Below

The fake titles are:

Comma ChameleonLinguistics for LosersHow to Write Good, PeriodNot Your Gramma's GrammarThe Grammar Geek Settles the ArgumentsPunctuation is for Pussies: How the Internet Made Grammar Irrelevant

The OED one is a classic 'stunt' book. I personally think stunt books are stupid. It's an attention whore trick. And it's invariably pretentious. They reek of 'I'm going to sacrifice my wonderful life for you, so you'd better pay.' Maybe the better name would be douchebag lit.

I'm out of control. I just looked up the OED book, read a few pages, and bought it. I think I have IBBS, Impulsive Book Buying Syndrome. And I believed Not Your Gramma’s Grammar was a real book. So now I’m struggling with the suspicious that I have IBBS and I am using my Gramma’s grammar. This is a rough day.